tennis espn singles woman

1981-

Russian tennis player

Anna Kournikova is arguably the most marketable woman in sports, despite having won no WTA Tour

Anna Kournikova

singles tournaments. "Anna Kournikova is sex with a tennis racket attached," Bud Collins, longtime expert in the sport, said on ESPN Classic's Sports Century series. Kournikova has only once reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam event, yet Web sites related to the attractive young Russian woman annually receive among the most "hits" worldwide. ESPN televised the filming of her skin-revealing 2003 calendar five times during Christmas week, 2002. It drew a 1.1 rating, considered high for an ESPN non-event telecast.

"Kournikova is of the post-feminist generation, one more likely to take its cues from MTV, Madonna and Camille Paglia than Ms.," Peter Bodo wrote on the ESPN.com Web site. "She also is of a realistic generation, and in a world in which sex sells—no matter what anyone has said or done so far—she has what the market wants. Having grown up relatively poor in a confused and desolate place (post-Soviet Russia), she is more than glad to exploit her natural gifts for personal gain." In 2000, she was one of five female tennis players named to Forbes magazine's Power 100 in Fame and Fortune list at No. 58.

Kournikova, beset by injuries in 2001 and 2002, does have two Grand Slam women's doubles titles. She and Martina Hingis teamed together to capture the Australian Open in 1999 and 2002 (they no longer play together). She was ranked as high as eighth among singles in May, 2001, before injuring her ankle. As 2002 ended, Kournikova was playing Monica Seles in exhibition matches. In tune-ups for the January, 2003 Australian Open, she was 35th in the Women's Tennis Association rankings. As the year 2003 began, Kournikova's pro singles career tournament drought stood at 115.

SELECTED WRITINGS BY KOURNIKOVA:

(With Greg Brown) Make Your Point, Dallas: Taylor, 2001.

Sketch by Paul Burton

Additional Topics

Born an only child in Moscow, Kournikova first swung a tennis racquet at age 5. She came from an athletic family; her father, Sergei, was a Greco-Roman wrestler and her mother, Alla, ran the 400 meters. At age seven, Kournikova was accepted as a junior member in Moscow's renowned Spartak Athletic Club, but the city's climate limited outdoor play to four months, and indoor courts were…

In 1997, at age 16, Kournikova toppled No. 5 Iva Majoli and No. 10 Anke Huber at Wimbledon and reached the semifinals before losing 6-3, 6-2 to Hingis. She was the second woman in the open era, after Chris Evert, to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in her debut. Kournikova, who admitted to soreness in her left hip, said she saw her run as a learning experience. "It's unbelievable, I go…

Kournikova ended 1999 with a number one in doubles. A year later she finished number eight, her first top 10 singles ranking. Her beauty and success were magnets for sponsors. She pitched brokerages and dot-com companies on television. By then, her personal life had also made big headlines. She was romantically linked to Russian-born hockey stars Sergei Federov and Pavel Bure. She was also linked …

After an exhibition match in December, 2002, in St. Paul, Minnesota, Seles quickly denied reports about resentment toward Kournikova by other WTA tour players. "I don't think there's animosity. My gosh, that's a strong word to use," Seles said after beating Kournikova in the Minnesota Tennis Challenge. "She's dedicated her life to this sport. She…

Kournikova's one wish for 2003, she said, was "to stay healthy, go back and try to play a full season this time." Her latest coach is former men's star Harold Solomon, a no-nonsense type credited with saving Jennifer Capriati's career. Off the court, meanwhile, she sued Penthouse magazine, which published photos in 2002 purporting to be Kournikova frolicking on a…

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